Posted on 03/16/2003 9:23:05 AM PST by knak
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As President Bush headed to an emergency summit in the Azores, Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday he did not expect a new diplomatic effort to emerge from the 11th-hour diplomatic review.
Appearing on the ABC "This Week" program from Washington, where he said he remained to coordinate with other foreign ministers as the showdown with Iraq reached a climax, Powell reiterated that the United States opposed giving Saddam Hussein much additional time to disarm as demanded by the United Nations.
"I'm not expecting, really, a new proposal" to come from the three-way session between Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, he said.
Powell also said later on CNN's "Late Edition" that journalists and others should consider leaving Baghdad not just for the dangers of a possible U.S.-led attack but also because Saddam could take them hostage.
"My personal advice is they ought to take a hard look at the situation they are in, and it would probably be better for them to start leaving or make plans to leave," Powell said.
Powell did not say whether the United States would withdraw the second resolution now pending before the U.N. Security Council, which has failed to garner support and forced the extraordinary weekend conference at a U.S. airbase in Portugal's Azores islands.
"We have had timelines, we have had deadlines, we have had benchmarks. The problem is, Iraq is not complying. Iraq is playing the United Nations and playing some of our friends in the permanent membership of the Security Council like a fiddle," he said on ABC.
Powell reiterated that the United States believes it already has the legal authority it needs for war.
"Would I love to have seen others come to the same conclusion we did, that there is a total lack of compliance on the part of Saddam Hussein, that all we're seeing is games? Of course," he said on ABC. "Would I have liked to have seen a second resolution because it would have helped our friends with some of their political difficulties? Yes. Do we need a second resolution? No."
Speaking later on Fox News, Powell expressed skepticism that another meeting with France, Germany and other Security Council members that oppose an invasion would do much good.
"Right now I don't know if there's any purpose to be served by another meeting when the difference is so fundamental," he said.
Gotta love that leftist slant. France and Germany are the only ones OPPOSED to an invasion. Mexico and Canada are low rent fence sitters who jumped late into the game in an attempt to garner some relevance on the international security stage.
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